Shabby chic wallpaper designs can be rather expensive but you don’t have to paper the whole room with them! You could cover a feature wall, the area behind the shelves in a bookcase or display unit, the tops of drawer units, alcoves or any other small area of the room where you would like to add colour and interest.

Things to watch for when buying shabby chic wallpaper:

Thin paper – let’s face it, hanging wallpaper isn’t an easy job and it gets a whole lot harder when the paper is too thin! You’ll find it tears easily when you’re trying to trim it at the top and bottom of the wall or around plug and light sockets. Buy a good quality, thicker paper for decent results.

Pattern match – if the roll is 10 metres, don’t expect to get (for example) 4 times 2.5m out of it unless the pattern match is stated to be 0cm (e.g. for plain or striped paper). There are different types of pattern match to look for:

Straight match - this means the pattern matches across the width of the wallpaper. The label of the wallpaper will tell you how often the pattern repeats - for example, 53cm.

Offset match (or ‘half drop’) – this means the match is obtained by halving the repeat. For example a label might state a 53/26.5cm offset match. This means the design repeats every 53cm and the point at which they match from left to right is every 26.5cm.

Free match (or pattern match = 0cm) – this means there is no matching required. If you put strips of this wallpaper side by side, it will match no matter what the position. It is the easiest type of wallpaper to hang and it also means there is less wastage. You'll find this match type on plain wallpaper and also on stripes, such as our driftwood design.

Other options for your walls:

Besides shabby chic wallpaper, there are plenty of other options to decorate your walls.

When it comes to choosing paint, whites and neutrals are typical choices for a shabby chic theme which is good news if you're decorating on a budget! Since the shabby chic look can include a lot of detail, keeping the walls plain and simple with a white, pastel or ecru paint and small areas of other neutral colours can help keep the room from looking cluttered. This colour palette has some lovely ideas for accent colours that would work well:

Cladding works well over small areas, painted in a white or light shade and then either left as-is or slightly roughed. An easy way to get the look of cladding, without the hassle of installing it, is to use a distressed wood panel wallpaper (buy it here).

Meet me:

Hello, I'm Jen and I'm the creator of The Shabby Chic Guru. I'm a 38 year old consultant and mummy of 4. I live in a Victorian house full of quirky furniture, large ornate mirrors and small children with sticky little fingers. I love all things shabby chic and vintage, cute babies, dinosaurs and wine.